I’ve been drinking alkaline water for almost 23 years.
I’m 77 this year and my dear, beloved one-of-a-kind heart has been beating every day of that time. It’s one of the many miracles I experience as a human every day. Imagine anything else lasting that long!
But all things must end. We all hope and pray for an easy death.
Heart disease remains a leading cause of death worldwide. It comes as a result of a variety of factors – high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and lifestyle choices.
I accept that there’s no miracle cure, so maintaining a healthy lifestyle including a balanced diet and regular physical activity can obviously go a long way in preventing and managing heart disease.
It’s a given that young people don’t listen to old people and so me telling people how to avoid a heart condition probably won’t be heard by many younger people still thinking they are immortal. I know I did until I was 50. That year I went from invincible to invisible.
But what if there is a simple strategy that has profound effect on future health?
Most of us overlook the importance of full hydration and the type of water that we consume.
There’s now scientific research claiming that drinking alkaline water can have a significant impact on heart health.
We’re going to delve into the science that claims drinking alkaline water regularly is good for the heart and why it is different from the regular tap water we drink every day.
Why are alkaline minerals so important to heart health?
Calcium and magnesium are crucial for maintaining a healthy heart.
A study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory found that farmers in Wisconsin who had adequate levels of these minerals in their water had a lower incidence of heart attacks and strokes compared to farmers who drank water that was low in these minerals. Another study from Finland of almost 100,000 death certificates showed better health results over whole of life for people who lived in regions where alkaline water was the norm.
The pH level (acidity vs. alkalinity) of our drinking water also plays a role in mineral absorption and retention.
Another study conducted in Sweden found that women who drank acidic well water absorbed toxic metals like mercury, whereas women who drank alkaline well water absorbed and retained calcium and magnesium from the water.
Lower Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels
More research demonstrated that drinking alkaline water may have a positive impact on both blood pressure and cholesterol-affected subjects who had never consumed alkaline water.
Participants of one such study drank 2 litres of alkaline water daily for two months. Cholesterol levels decreased, as did triglycerides.
Alkaline water has been shown to reduce levels of the two most dangerous forms of cholesterol: triglycerides and Very Low-Density Lipoprotein (V-LDL) cholesterol.
So.. what is the best alkaline water for heart health?
To get the most benefits for heart health, it is obviously important to choose the right type of alkaline water. The National Academy of Sciences recommends a minimum water hardness of 170 mg/L, with an ideal ratio of calcium to magnesium of 4:1.
Most health experts recommend alkaline water with a pH level of 8.5 to 9.5 for daily drinking.
There’s a lot of confusion in the marketplace about the best form of alkaline water. These quick points will help you research further.
- Natural alkaline water vs. electrolysed alkaline water.
Our body is asking for alkaline minerals to support our internal buffer of alkaline minerals. This buffer consists of natural alkaline minerals that are available to react with and neutralise incoming excess acids. - Amount of alkaline minerals per day.
There is ample evidence of the MDA (Minimum Daily Allowance) of alkaline minerals for men and women. It’s not hard to find how much of these minerals are in your present drinking water, and whether drinking your normal tap water meets those MDA’s. - Drinking tap water vs. alkaline water filter/system.
Look closely at how any system works to add alkaline minerals to your drinking water.
Electrolysis systems, for instance, don’t actually increase the amount of alkaline minerals in your drinking water. They merely subtract the acids from the water.
Natural systems add actual alkaline minerals to the present level of minerals in the tap water. - pH vs. alkalinity.
Electrolysis machines use a powerful electrical current passing through your water to increase pH of the water. This shows as a high pH when we test the water but is not a true reflection of actually available alkaline minerals.You may be getting far less minerals than your pH meter or test reagent shows.
- Antioxidant capability.
Your investigations will soon arrive at someone claiming that their alkaline water machine produces antioxidant water. This claim has been around, to my knowledge, for over 20 years and only recently, with the help of MHI Founder and biochemist Tyler Lebaron, has been soundly debunked. See here for his latest study debunking it and other often-used sales pitches. - Alkalinity and Molecular Hydrogen
A revolution happened in the alkaline water industry around ten years ago when it was discovered that electrolysis water machines benefits did not come from the amount of alkalinity, but from the molecular hydrogen that infused into the water as the machine operated. Bearing in mind the previous point that electrolysis machines do not actually deliver the alkaline minerals they claim, it’s important to understand exactly why going to ‘alkaline water’ may assist your health. The non-profit Molecular Hydrogen Institute website here is the best possible resource to clarify this issue for you.
In conclusion, drinking the right form of alkaline water may have an impact on heart health by providing the body with adequate levels of calcium and magnesium, which, studies have indicated, may lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and may reduce the risk of heart disease.
There is only one decision to make in taking on the alkaline lifestyle, and that is getting the right form of alkaline water from a company that knows what it is talking about. We’ve studied alkaline water for 22 years and have seen that in the vast majority of cases, the (often very expensive) option will never be able to even supply minimum daily mineral requirements. And yet we now know that while any alkaline minerals have the potential to assist our acid/alkaline balance, it is actually the molecular hydrogen that does the hard lifting in terms of health results. On the same website mentioned earlier you will find over 1000 scientific studies of over 140 health conditions involving molecular hydrogen water consumption.